The composer´s vital statistics:

Born on June 11, 1864 in Munich
Died on September 8, 1949 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Original Title:

In the original autograph, the work is called simply "Heldenleben" without the indefinite article and subtitle and is not divided into sections, nor does it have any section titles. These were added later. In the program of the Frankfurt world première, Strauss inserted the indefinite article "Ein" and the subtitle "Symphony in E-flat major", which he then changed in the printed edition to "Tone Poem for Large Orchestra".

Composition:

On April 16, 1897, Strauss noted in his diary: "Symphonic poem `Hero and World´ starting to take form -- then, as a satyr play: `Don Quixote´!" Strauss had however already come up with the idea of portraying the contrary biographies of two "heroic" types in a symphonic dipthych in the autumn of 1896 in Florence; "Ein Heldenleben" and "Don Quixote" were concurrently conceived and largely composed parallel to one another. "Don Quixote", however, was finished and orchestrated first (Completion date: December 29, 1897). In the spring of 1898, the title "Held und Welt" ("Hero and World") was replaced with the ironic Beethoven quote "Eroica". Not until the summer of 1898 was the title "Heldenleben" finalized. During his annual summer vacation in Marquartstein, Upper Bavaria, Strauss wrote under the date July 30 in his diary: "This evening at 10, the great Bismarck dismissed!" and under that: "`Heldenleben´ completed." On August 2nd, three days after the completion of the particell, Strauss began the orchestration and the fair copy score in Marquartstein, completing work on it on December 1, 1898 in his new home in the Charlottenburg section of Berlin. In mid-December, encouraged by his friend Friedrich Rösch, he began changing the originally "still" ending of the "Heldenleben" and noted in his diary on December 27, 1898: "`Heldenleben´ second ending completed!" The original score, however, contains only the first, "still" ending -- there is no evidence of the second in the composer´s own handwriting.

Dedication:

"Dedicated to Wilhelm (recte: Willem) Mengelberg and the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam." (=in the printed score, not in the autograph) Willem Mengelberg was one of the most significant Strauss and Mahler conductors in the first half of the 20th century and was for decades chief conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. Strauss not only turned over the world première of the "Heldenleben" to his friend and podium colleague, but also made him a present of the autograph of his score particell.

World première:

On March 3, 1899, "from the manuscript" in the great hall of the "Saalbau" in Frankfurt on the Main ("Eleventh Friday Concert" of the Frankfurt Museum Society; Frankfurt Museum Orchestra under the direction of the composer, violin solo: Alfred Hess). At the same concert, Strauss´s wife Pauline Strauss-de Ahna sang her husband´s orchestral and piano-accompanied songs; he himself concluded the concert conducting the "Fantastic Variations of a Chivalrous Character - Don Quixote, Opus 35".